


Home

by gaylttletoad



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen, Mako is an idiot, bolin is a sweetheart, childhood prompt, christmas fic bc why not, the best brothers idc, they are best friends, they are just little babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28201380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaylttletoad/pseuds/gaylttletoad
Summary: One year, Mako plans an elaborate heist to steal his brother an expensive gift. Turns out the heist is neither elaborate, or planned.
Relationships: Bolin & Mako (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> for mako week on twt!!!!! can't believe i wrote something that has a plot tbh

Winter was Mako’s least favourite time of the year for a reason. He was well aware that it was supposed to be a time for joy, comfort and family; but it’s a lot harder to cheer yourself up with those things when you have nothing left.

If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure he could remember what holiday spirit had felt like in the first place.

From what he could remember, his parents had celebrated the holidays every year. They’d sweep him and Bolin up in an eventful week of miniature banquets, gift giving and Pai Sho playing. Bolin had only been a baby so he'd kept trying to eat the tiles, and their mother would have to wrestle it out of his tiny, yet remarkably forceful grip.

That was the problem, wasn’t it? Bolin was only a baby. He couldn’t remember them, so Mako had to keep those memories replaying in his head by himself. When it got too bad and he lay there, quietly crying as he remembered the last birthday he’d had where his parents were still there, Bolin couldn’t do anything. He didn’t even wake up most of the time, and as much as it would have helped to have someone there, he didn’t blame Bolin. He couldn’t.

Bolin was the only family he had left, and although Mako may have been biased, he thought Bolin deserved the world.

And that’s why Mako was currently perched on the roof opposite a small toy store in the centre of Republic City. He was a whole thirteen years of age, and the only thing he really knew was petty theft. He and Bolin had walked past it a few times and every single time, without fail, Bolin had pointed out a small, knitted sky bison toy perched in the window.

It had a hefty price tag (something past what Mako could count on his fingers, so way out of their budget) as did most other things in the city centre. That made Mako stealing from it okay, right? The shopkeepers were notoriously wealthy. They wouldn’t miss the toy or the money, and it’s not like anyone ever noticed the brothers anyway. 

It would make Bolin happy, and that’s all that mattered at the end of the day.

He’d entrusted Bolin with looking after their temporary encampment under a bridge, maybe fifteen minutes away from the city centre. As much as he didn’t like leaving the eleven year old alone, he knew he could defend himself even a little and this excursion was important. He couldn’t bring himself to admit to Bolin that there was no point celebrating anymore. These few days, when the city is quiet and there’s snow and soft coloured lights, were something that Mako could never take away from his brother. Those days with their parents had been taken from them, and by keeping some kind of festive spirit alive he could keep their memory alive too.

It’s what they would have wanted, Mako thought.

It had been getting darker, slowly but surely, as Mako observed the movement in the shop opposite. He’d been doing this for a few days now, noting when the owners locked up for the night and when they crept away to bed.

He could see the old man’s silhouette shuffling around inside, window illuminated by candlelight. If he squinted, he could see the sky bison lying on its stand at the back. Mako watched as the lights in the window were snuffed out, swinging his legs down and off the edge of the roof, and leant back on the palms of his hands. 

After a couple days observation, Mako knew that the owner’s bedtime was around ten o’clock. Now, thanks to the help of the large clock that was helpfully placed next to the weathervane on the roof of the toy shop, he knew that he had roughly two minutes before then.

He also knew he had around half an hour to finish up before Bolin started to panic.

Using one hand to swing himself around and slide down the side of the roof, he managed to neatly land on the top of a couple boxes stacked against the side of the alleyway. Mako crossed the road as casually as he could. Nobody was really out- the shops had closed early because of the holidays and everyone had gone home to be with their families. As someone who’s only permanent home was their little brother, Mako had the right to be ever so slightly bitter about that. Even if the lack of crowds meant he was able to efficiently steal the toy from right under the shopkeepers nose.

He needed to be fast. It took nearly fifteen minutes to get back to Bolin, leaving him with a measly ten to get into the shop via lock picking and steal the bison. Mako cursed. He had told Bolin he’d be back by 10:30 to avoid leaving him alone for too long. He’d spent days working out the maths, calculating the times and had somehow managed to leave out the time it took for him to walk back. Which was an issue.

-

Fifteen minutes later, another issue that Mako had forgotten to factor in was the owner's possum-dog, which was now pelting after him at full speed down the road. Mako, stolen toy in hand, was a couple metres in front of it, sprinting for dear life. He needed to get away quickly, and without losing the toy.

The road was getting further and further away from the centre of town now, and Mako realised that he was also getting further and further from Bolin.

He had absolutely no idea how he’d miscalculated this badly. He’d screwed everything up for Bolin: he was going to be late. He didn’t even have any food for them to eat.

If Mako hadn’t been so busy running scared from a nine kilogram creature of pure, feral animosity, he could have cried.

Grabbing hold of the streetlamp closest to him, he used his momentum to swerve around and down a narrow alleyway behind a row of houses. In the few seconds he spared to glance behind him, he saw that the possum-dog was still there. A high-ish brick wall was hurtling towards him the further he ran down the alley, and in the most stressful split second of Mako’s life, he decided to thrust the toy between his teeth and vault himself over and into the garden below.  
The possum-dog, being relatively miniscule and therefore very unlikely to make it over the wall, wisely decided not to follow. 

Mako kept running. He had no idea where he was running to. He needed to get the hell out of random gardens, and back to Bolin before all hell broke loose.

-

Mako was pretty sure he was close to their camp now. He’d found the river and jogged down it in what he hoped was the right direction.

He was the only person outside. He’d only passed a couple of people over the last ten minutes or so. It was snowing lightly and had been for a few minutes now, peppering the street in front of him with a thin layer of snow. He’d nearly slipped over a few times, but he chose to preserve whatever dignity he had left by choosing to ignore that.

The bridge was visible now, and if he looked closely enough, he could see a small fire lit underneath, close to the wall on one side.

Bolin.

Mako sighed in relief. 

“Bo! Are you there?”

He heard a curse, and a crash as Bolin came hurtling towards him at breakneck speed. 

Mako had tucked the toy under his jacket now, and had even procured (stolen) a nice red ribbon from the toy store. 

Expecting a hug, he was surprised to feel Bolin’s clammy hands clamp over his eyes, and drag him forwards.

“What the-” Mako spluttered, confused.

“Just follow me,” Bolin hissed, one hand in Mako’s, the other reaching up to cover Mako’s eyes.

Mako let his brother pull him forwards, until they came to a stop. He could feel the fire, warm against his face. 

“Look,” Words came tumbling out of Bolin’s dog faster than a possum-dog. “You do so much for me every year Mako and I just want- wanted to surprise you and so you don’t have to do anything for me because you do every year and every day and I’m old enough now I want to look after you too,”

Mako faltered, and Bolin took his hand away from his brother’s face. 

There was a square of cloth perched next to the fire. Atop it were piles of baked goods, dumplings, various meats and vegetables, and a small pile of awfully wrapped gifts.

Mako started to cry.

He started to bawl his eyes out as Bolin sat down in front of the fire. 

“I’m sorry,” Bolin was panicking. “I didn’t mean to- I wanted you to be happy, Mako.”

Mako sat down next to him and threw his arms around his brother’s neck.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

No one had ever done this for him. He had no idea Bolin had it in him, and he had even less of an idea as to how his eleven year old brother had managed to get his hands on something like this.

“Promise me one thing, Mako: don’t ask where it came from.”

Mako laughed hoarsely, and removed himself from Bolin’s shoulders.

“I promise, Bo.”

He straightened himself up and coughed into his hands as dramatically as he could.

Grinning at Bolin, he snaked a gloved hand behind his back to grab the bison. 

“Here,” he said, sniffling slightly and presenting the toy with a flourish.

Bolin’s eyes widened.

“No way! What?” he shrieked. “How? Where. When?” 

“A master never reveals his secrets.”

“You stole it, didn’t you?”

“Uh. Shut up,” They both laughed. “Take it. C’mon. I risked my life for this thing.”

“Really?”

“Sure,” Mako raised an eyebrow and pointed at the pile to Bolin’s left. “Who’s that for?”

Bolin blushed, and handed two decently sized packages over. Mako, being a thirteen year old boy, lifted the larger one up to his ear and shook it. 

It didn’t rattle, rather it felt quite soft as his fingers went to unwrap the gift. Inside was a grey woollen jumper. Mako blinked.  
“Thank you?” 

Bolin grinned smugly. “It’s winter. You get cold.”

Smiling, Mako put it to one side. The next gift was significantly larger, and denser. It was a book. A history book to be exact: fire nation history.

“Because fire. You like fire! Fire nation has fire,” Bolin took it from his hands. “I thought you might want to learn more about the history of firebending. Dragons and stuff!”

Mako hadn’t smiled this much before in his life. Bolin had genuinely put a lot of thought into this.

“I- I don’t deserve this.” he said to himself.

Bolin chucked a dumpling at his head. 

“Shut up. Eat! You’ve given me so much stuff, I just wanted to give something back.”

They smiled at each other, Mako's eyes puffy from crying, Bolin's cheeks and nose flushed from the cold.

Mako knew their parents would be proud of them.


End file.
